Wednesday, March 1, 2017

In Closing, the Connect CGS Speaker

The closing session at IBM Connect this year was probably
the most educational closing session I have listened to over the years. And
that is a good thing because although some closers were motivational or
inspirational or imaginative, the creative process often gets hidden in the
final product.

Eric Whitacre, who until the session I had not looked up or
heard of, was very upfront about his motivations and goals/dreams and how all
of them combine to help him fulfill his music efforts.

Eric has created a collaborative choir, digitally, and
continues to push the envelope to do more. You can look at some of his work here, here, and here to get an idea of
what I am talking about.

While that was all very cool and awesome acoustically, it
was his explanations about how he composes the new pieces that was so
intriguing.

As with most designers and artists, he free hands some ideas
on paper peppered with items that pop in his head to come up with a high level
plan. Nothing is wasted, they are just ideas for next time perhaps.

He quoted Hans Zimmer the great composer of so many movies
themes who said “Why go with your 5th worst idea when the 1st one is
just as good”.

He then continued on by explain the Fibonacci number and
how that influences art and music.

When Eric broke down the song from Frozen and compared it to
how Beethoven’s 5th works, I am pretty sure everyone in the room was
blown away by the relative simplicity of his explanation to something most
people give little thought.

Eric composes orchestral pieces but involves non-traditional
methods into his work. His usage of snapping fingers to make rain storms for
instance or having an audience download an app to run during the concert when he tells them to hit the
button providing an aural and visual enhancement to his piece is great art. By
bring his audience into the conductor circle he has gained their interest and
makes the symphony seem modern instead of old and dusty. I would love to take
my kids to see him some day.

My wife will read this and remind me of how I fell asleep at
the symphony with her parents when we were first married. It isn’t that I don’t
like the music, in most cases I do, it just doesn’t excite me the same way as
seeing Eric Clapton in concert. Let the record also state, I fell asleep at a
Fleetwood Mac conference during Mick’s elongated drum/percussion solo. I argue
I was just tired in both situations. J

I can only presume this is how great developers plan their
applications. I have worked with few developers that do it this way to such
detail but maybe the detail is not what is really important. The details are
appreciated, but are they just nice to have or do they serve a purpose? Even if
that purpose is to complete the overall original vision of the creator? Do
people really notice these nice to have items?

Whoever said don’t sweat the small stuff, really never
understood, it is the small stuff that means the most.